Tools I carry on bikes or trikes

The picture shown below shows the tools I carry on my bike or trike on each and every ride. Also shown are the patches and glue I use for patching tubes, either at home or on the road.

The tools include blue Park TL-4 tire levers. These are different from other tire levers because they have a blunt tip, with a groove along the tip. The groove is to grab the wire embedded in the edges of a clincher tire. This guarantees that the tip of the lever doesn’t grab the tube and pinch it. This feature greatly reduces pinch flats. Other gear includes an Alien II multitool, by Topeak. This little tool has all kinds of Allen wrenches and open end wrenches, spoke wrenches, and also has a knife, a chain breaker, can opener, and a torx wrench which works with Avid BB7 disc brakes.

Another tool is the CO2 canisters, with a small regulator on the end of one canister. The regulator is made by Air Rush, and is a minimalist sort of air regulator. One CO2 canister fills a couple of tires, depending on how big the tires are. These are super convenient compared to a small air pump. I carry on the bike or trike a tube patch kit with a piece of sandpaper, a disposable razor (not shown), some small round patches, and a small tube of glue. The razor is to shave down the ridges in the tube if the hole to be patched is near a ridge. The tube that comes with a regular little patch kit is mostly filled with air, and has enough glue for about 2 patches, so you are out of glue before you are out of patches, and half the patches are large ones, which I never use.

What I do for patches and glue is to buy small round patches (Rema F1) in a box of 100, then I keep 3 or 4 in the kit on the bike. I also buy a 10 g tube of glue for taking on the road. That has to be 5 or 10 times as large as the small ones that come in a kit, and the two tubes are shown side-by-side in the picture. For patching tubes at home I use Rema Tip Top 2o3 Cold Vulcanizing Fluid in an 8 oz can, which has a brush in the lid. That way my travel tube of glue will last longer.

I also carry a new tube for each size tire I have. The trike has two different sizes. This setup has served me well in my daily rides.